User blog:SatyreyesDM/All Locked Up
After an invigorating ride on the Wolf, Seth and his friends reached Wayreth Forest only to find it surrounded by a strange abjuration field. The field allowed outsiders in, but did not let insiders out. As a result, around the Tower of High Sorcery there had grown a refugee camp comprised of former wizards seeking help relearning their magic. On further investigation, a second such field surrounded the Tower grounds proper. What could the Tower wizards be trying so hard to contain? Was there any truth to the rumor that the Tower wizards had their power back and were hoarding it for themselves? And how could Seth enter, given the almost complete silence from the Tower's inhabitants? Morden and Lutesinger spent a couple days feeding the hungry refugees while Seth reconnoitered. At last, Leo, a Dustman transmuter who had begged the party for food at their first arrival, suggested that Seth simply "fireball the tower." Such a display of magic would pique the interest of the wizards inside, almost demanding that they take him in. He did, and it worked. Seth and his friends were met at the gate by a nervous red-robed wizard, Rose Moor, who tried to convey them urgently to the east tower, where the White Robes held sway. Instead, they were intercepted by a party of Black Robes -- all of whom used magic! As it transpired, these were warlocks, given their power by the Canian devil Adonides, who had appeared in the west tower not long after the Puncture. Seth's party dispatched the Black Robe assailants, taking three prisoner. Rose then conveyed them to one of the east tower's libraries, where they met the White Robes Vander fen Majere and Karima Fulani. Together, the group hatched a plan to infiltrate the west tower and liberate Zephyrus Raptorr, who had arrived in his spelljammer after the barriers went up. For Seth, the first step in the plan was to go with Rose to interview the Black Robed prisoners Cara Poole, Suleima Istar, and Sandalphon Lupyx. The three staged an escape attempt that Seth thwarted with the help of Justarius, the head of the Order of the Red Robes. Justarius revealed that the barriers had been put in place to stop Ladonna, as well as her henchmen Tae'hr and Aluthalas, from abandoning their order to pursue personal power via an opportunity elsewhere. Justarius would say nothing of the nature of this opportunity. The three Black Robes were taken prisoner again and conveyed elsewhere. Then the plan to rescue Raptorr began. By levitating up to the spelljammer dock from outside the tower, Justarius sprung Raptorr from his confinement, and the two proceeded upward to face Ladonna in person. Meanwhile, Seth and his friends engaged Adonides. The devil first tried to tempt Seth to inaction with promises of power, but it was when he threatened Adastra on behalf of his commander Mephistopheles that Seth flew into action. He delivered Adonides a sound drubbing, then ran upstairs to help with the fight against Ladonna. In Ladonna's laboratory, Justarius and Raptorr were evenly matched against the wizardess and her lieutenant Tae'hr. Seth's arrival tipped the scales. Tae'hr was knocked out, while Ladonna escaped to the spelljammer dock. According to Justarius, who was fast in pursuit, Ladonna attempted to put on a magical ring, but fell unconscious at once. Seth recognized the ring; it was the mysterious ring he had once won from Biff and had stolen by Mestari. The same Mestari who, as it happened, had shown up at Wayreth Tower just before the barrier was erected. The great battle was over, but the power structure of the Tower was in shambles. Only Justarius remained at his order's head; Ladonna was imprisoned, and Par-Salian, head of the White Robes, had gone missing. Suleima and Karima were appointed as interim heads of their orders until their leaders could be, respectively, elected and located. And apart from Raptorr, none of these luminaries could use magic! Once the Tower leadership was done showering its gratitude on Seth, he took on Suleima and Cara as pupils, and his party began the process of tying up loose ends. Category:Blog posts